Taxi driver bags £24.5MMillion Lotto win and plans to share with family

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A taxi driver from Gloucester carried his winning Lotto ticket around in the glovebox of his cab for two days before realising he was an amazing £24,501,283 richer. The father of five is now planning to look after his large family.

Amo Riselli, 50, won the giant sum in the must-be-won Lotto draw on Wednesday 27th December. With no one matching all six main numbers Amo walked away with the massive prize by matching five main numbers and bonus ball.

The win won’t just transform Amo’s life, as he gives up driving, but also the lives of his family. With four brothers and sisters, five daughters and nine granchildren, Amo promises the win will make a difference to the close group. “I’ll look after my family and friends.”

How much?

Amo always buys three lines for Lotto draws on Wednesday and Saturday and saves up a batch to get them all checked at the same time. After scanning the first ticket, the terminal in his local shop made an unusual noise and Amo was told he had matched five main numbers plus the bonus ball and should contact Camelot.

Taking the print out from the machine in his hands, Amo ran next door to his sister Lisa’s hair salon and excitedly shouted he’d won the lottery – thinking at first glance he’d pocketed a huge £240KThousand win.

“I try to get my tickets checked in the same shop. I always say that one day this machine is going to start smoking red hot because I will have hit the big one. I can’t believe that it’s actually happened to me for real.”

Excited for his £240KThousand win Amo called his brother Marco to tell him. “He said he didn’t understand how that could be as he’d already checked his own ticket and didn’t remember that winning amount. He asked what numbers I’d got and when I told him he cried ‘you’ve won the whole jackpot of £24MMillion’. It’s an amazing feeling and I’m absolutely over the moon!”

The father of five is now planning to look after his large family

Call

Surrounded by family Amo called Camelot and danced around the living room when the £24,501,283 amount was confirmed. At the heart of her family, mum Maria was given the responsibility of keeping the ticket in a safe place. She stored it in a glass jar in the cupboard, checking it was still there every time she walked by.

New Year celebrations were a little different as Amo could join the family rather than spend the evening driving his taxi. In fact his cabbie days are over for good. “I will miss all my friends at work as we really have a laugh together, but I’ve decided I’m going to retire – just because now I can”.

Plans

After treating family and friends, Amo is planning on buying the house of his dreams with a swimming pool. He is also going to celebrate by arranging a big get together as a thank you for all his colleagues from the Grosvenor taxi rank, where he was self-employed for 12 years. A holiday to Las Vegas is on the cards with his girls but more than anything else, he just wants to have a great time with his family.

“I’m not going to play the lottery anymore, as I’ve already conquered that ‘big win’ – it is someone else’s turn now. I may now be a multi-millionaire but I am still the same normal person I always was, just with a bit more loose change in my pocket.”

The Lotto jackpot is capped at £22MMillion and once it is reached the colossal sum has to be won in the next draw. This means either a player will match all six numbers or the jackpot prize money will roll down into the next winning prize tier. In the draw on 27th December no one matched all six and Amo was the only player to match five and the bonus ball.

5th January 2018

For 25 years The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners and supporting good causes across the UK. Since November 19th 1994 there have been 5,500 new millionaires created and over £40 billion has been given to good causes across the UK.

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